It’s been an honor to serve as the 2024 President of the Morgantown Board of Realtors (MBOR). If you follow our social media, you may have seen that we recently held the ceremonial installation of our 2025 Board of Directors, and I’m pleased to be able to continue as the Immediate Past President. I’ll be succeeded by Aaron Marko, whom many in Morgantown already know. Now, I referred to this “ceremonial installation”, because the effective date of the switch is actually the 1st of January, so you’re still stuck with my columns for a few more weeks! So, I’ll say a little more about the ‘24 Board in one of my final columns.
Having said that, 2024 was a challenging year. As our Public Relations Chair, Molly Parrish, stated in our recent post on Facebook, we had to navigate unprecedented policy changes. To be frank, most Realtors across the country were ill-prepared at this time a year ago for what was coming. Here’s a bit of a recap. The Department of Justice and our National Association of Realtors, dealt with a lawsuit filed by a plaintiff in Missouri. In that lawsuit, the subject of a seller’s agent splitting the commission with the buyer’s agent, was brought into question. There was a lot of uncertainty for months, but in the end, a settlement was reached.
Most Realtors will tell you the terms of the settlement caused more problems than it solved. Essentially, a listing (seller’s) agent, can no longer advertise a commission within the MLS (Multiple Listing Service), whether or not they will actually split. In many cases, I believe the split will still exist, but again it cannot be advertised within the MLS platform. Bottom line up front, is “IF” the seller’s side doesn’t agree to split, it places many buyers, especially first-timers, in a situation where they may not be able to afford representation. They commission was already “baked into the cake” so to speak, but now, they’d have to come up with additional cash, if the split doesn’t exist. This could potentially kill the American Dream for many.
As we came to understand the terms, our WV Association of Realtors, MBOR, the MLS Board and our individual brokerages, worked together to create new legal forms which addressed these matters and for that collaboration, I thank them all! I especially want to thank Ray Joseph, the WVAR CEO for his expert guidance, along with the ’24 WVAR President, Angela Mayfield. A few months ago, they addressed our Morgantown membership through an excellent Q&A, and they were also assisted by the sage wisdom of local Broker, Steve Walker.
In my last several weeks, I’ll not only say a little more about the ’24 Board, but I’ll highlight a couple of more charitable activities we will be participating in for the holiday season. One of my goals this year, was to raise awareness of MBOR’s community involvement. Yes, Real Estate is a business, but Realtors have a giving nature and for that, I’m proud to have served with MBOR.